A Hunter-bred horse that almost died in a barn fire after narrowly avoiding slaughter is now a London Olympic Games contender.

Neville Bardos is named after an Australian underworld figure.

It was born in the Hunter Valley and like many failed racehorses was headed for slaughter until being bought by equestrian Boyd Martin.

It cheated death a second time last year when it was caught in a barn fire in the United States.

It only survived as Martin forced his way into the collapsing building and dragged it to safety.

"I knew it was Neville and I sort of dragged him down the aisle way and the whole building was ablaze," he said

He says it has been a phenomenal rise.

"You know I always have a chuckle to myself because you know he was a ratbag of a young horse and now he's got people taking pictures of him and movie cameras and I think to myself, you lucky bugger how did you pull this off?" he said

Hunter Valley equestrian Heath Ryan knows horse and rider well.

"Boyd and Neville Bardos together, that's two wild boys and they go like lightning," he said.

The horse has been shortlisted for the US Equestrian Olympic team and Hollywood is calling after Martin sold the movie rights to the story.